Close Menu
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Trending
    • Dangote Reduces Ex-Depot Petrol Price To ₦820 Per Litre
    • Zamfara Governor Clears ₦13.6bn Gratuity Debt Owed Retirees Since 2011
    • Abuja Teachers Suspend Strike After Wike’s N16bn Intervention
    • Ahmed Musa Denies Distributing SUVs To Kano Pillars Players
    • Joao Pedro Shines As Chelsea Beat Fluminense To Reach Club World Cup Final
    • UK Threatens Further Action Against Israel If Gaza Ceasefire Proposal Fails
    • Texas Flood Death Toll Passes 100 As More Bodies Recovered
    • President Ramaphosa Opposes Trump’s 30% Tariff On South Africa
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    NEWS POINT NIGERIANEWS POINT NIGERIA
    UBA 720X90
    • HOME
    • NEWS

      Dangote Reduces Ex-Depot Petrol Price To ₦820 Per Litre

      July 8, 2025

      Zamfara Governor Clears ₦13.6bn Gratuity Debt Owed Retirees Since 2011

      July 8, 2025

      Abuja Teachers Suspend Strike After Wike’s N16bn Intervention

      July 8, 2025

      JUST IN: ‘Stay For Only Three Months’, US Implements Stricter Non-Immigrant Visa Rules For Nigerians

      July 8, 2025

      ADC Prepares Legal Army Of 97 Lawyers To Defend David Mark, Aregbesola Amid Leadership Suit

      July 8, 2025
    • COLUMN

      There Is Pain Behind That Smile. Just Do Your Bit – By Dr Hassan Gimba

      July 6, 2025

      What Can Nigeria Learn From China’s Electricity Revolution? – By Dr Dakuku Peterside

      July 6, 2025

      Amaechi: Nigerian Politicians And Doublespeak – By Kazeem Akintunde

      July 6, 2025

      Remembering ‘Watergate Scandal’ And Danger Of Crippling Opposition – By Martins Oloja

      July 6, 2025

      Don’t Kill Yourself Because He’s Cheating – By Funke Egbemode

      July 6, 2025
    • EDUCATION

      13 Countries Offering Free Or Low-Cost PhD Programmes For Non-Citizens

      January 25, 2025

      NECO: Abia, Imo Top Performing States In Two Years, Katsina, Zamfara Come Last

      October 3, 2024

      NBTE Accredits 17 Programmes At Federal Polytechnic Kabo

      August 20, 2024

      15 Most Expensive Universities In Nigeria

      May 19, 2024

      FULL LIST: Tinubu Appoints Former SGF Yayale, Ex-Governor Yuguda, Muhammad Abacha, Jega In Universities’ Governing Councils

      May 18, 2024
    • INTERNATIONAL

      UK Threatens Further Action Against Israel If Gaza Ceasefire Proposal Fails

      July 8, 2025

      Texas Flood Death Toll Passes 100 As More Bodies Recovered

      July 8, 2025

      Iran President, Masoud Pezeshkian Says Israel Attempted To Assassinate Him

      July 7, 2025

      Trump, Brazil’s Lula Clash Over Politically Charged Coup Trial

      July 7, 2025

      Israeli Army Targets Gaza City With Heavy Strikes, Killing 39

      July 6, 2025
    • JUDICIARY

      FULL LIST: Judicial Council Recommends Appointment Of 11 Supreme Court Justices

      December 6, 2023

      Supreme Court: Judicial Council Screens 22 Nominees, Candidates Face DSS, Others

      November 29, 2023

      FULL LIST: Judicial Commission Nominates 22 Justices For Elevation To Supreme Court

      November 16, 2023

      Seven Key Issues Resolved By Seven Supreme Court Judges

      October 26, 2023

      FULL LIST: CJN To Swear In Falana’s Wife, 57 Others As SANs November 27

      October 12, 2023
    • POLITICS

      What Peter Obi May Lose If He Joins Coalition As VP Candidate

      May 25, 2025

      Atiku Moves To Unseat Wike’s Damagum As PDP Chairman, Backs Suswam As Replacement

      April 15, 2024

      Edo’s Senator Matthew Uroghide, Others Defect To APC

      April 13, 2024

      Finally, Wike Opens Up On Rift With Peter Odili

      April 2, 2024

      El-Rufa’i’s Debt Burden: APC Suspends Women Leader For Criticising Kaduna Gov

      March 31, 2024
    • SPORTS

      Ahmed Musa Denies Distributing SUVs To Kano Pillars Players

      July 8, 2025

      Joao Pedro Shines As Chelsea Beat Fluminense To Reach Club World Cup Final

      July 8, 2025

      WAFCON: Babajide Pays Tribute To Jota After Scoring In Falcons’ Victory Over Tunisia

      July 7, 2025

      Arsenal Close In On Gyokeres Deal After Face-To-Face Talks

      July 7, 2025

      THROWBACK: How I Became Known As Dodo Mayana – Peter Rufai

      July 6, 2025
    • MORE
      • AFRICA
      • ANALYSIS
      • BUSINESS
      • ENTERTAINMENT
      • FEATURED
      • LENS SPEAK
      • INFO – TECH
      • INTERVIEW
      • NIGERIA DECIDES
      • OPINION
      • Personality Profile
      • Picture of the month
      • Science
      • Special Project
      • Videos
      • Weekend Sports
    NEWS POINT NIGERIANEWS POINT NIGERIA
    UBA 720X90
    Home - Nigeria Would Have Been Better Had MKO Abiola Become President – Son

    Nigeria Would Have Been Better Had MKO Abiola Become President – Son

    By Farouk AbbasJune 13, 2025
    MKO Abiola

    NIGERIA would have become far better economically had democracy hero Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola been allowed to become president in 1993, his son Jamiu has said.

    “Nigeria would have been better because, at that time, it was a very special time in global times; that 1993 period was a time when the world itself was having an international economic boom,” he said on Thursday during Channels Television’s June 12 Special Forum to celebrate Nigeria’s 26 years of unbroken democratic rule.

    “So, we could have tapped into that. But what did we get in return? We got a Kleptomaniac as head of state. I am not going to talk about (Sani) Abacha because he has his problems wherever he has found himself,” he said.

    UBA

    The special event was tagged ‘Nigeria’s Democratic Journey: An Inter-Generational Conversation On Building A Better Nation’.

    Thirty-two years after the election was annulled and 25 years after MKO’s death, Jamiu, who is Senior Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Linguistics and Foreign Affairs, believes some people were hellbent on erasing his father’s name from Nigeria’s history.

    WIDGET ADS

    He said, “I wrote a book in 2015 because I came to realise that my father’s name was becoming like a memory that was becoming distant and people were hellbent on rewriting the history of Nigeria without him.

    “People would come from abroad, foreign presidents, they would mention Yar’Adua and others and they would not mention Chief MKO Abiola.

    Thomas Sankara African Leadership Prize

    “Some people wanted to bury his name. Like my father would say: they wanted to shave his head in his absence.

    “So, I now wrote a book in 2015, ‘The President Who Never Ruled’, so that his name cannot be forgotten.”

    Nigerian TAX Reform - Federal Goverment

    Three years later, in 2018, Abiola was posthumously awarded Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (GCFR) by then President Muhammadu Buhari, who also declared June 12 Democracy Day, a move considered by many as long overdue.

    But it wasn’t just Jamiu’s father that paid a huge price for his fight for democracy, his mother, Kudirat, a pro-democracy campaigner was assassinated in 1996.

    She was one of the June 12 icons and prominent Nigerians to be recognised by President Tinubu with national merit awards on Thursday. He posthumously awarded her the title Commander of the Federal Republic.

    National Orientation Agency Page UP
    National Orientation Agency - Down

    Jamiu, who described the killing of his mother as a terrible experience, appreciated President Tinubu for the recognition bestowed on her as a democracy hero.

    “One of the most loyal persons to him (MKO Abiola) at that time, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is now the president of Nigeria. May God bless him for honouring my mother today.”

    In February 2025, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) who was Head of State in 1993 and annulled the election released a 420-page memoir titled, ‘A Journey in Service: An Autobiography of Ibrahim Babangida’. In the book, he admitted for the first time that Abiola won the 1993 poll and blamed General Abacha for the action.

    After General Babangida, who took over power in 1985 through a coup against General Muhammadu Buhari, annulled on June 24 1993, he was forced to resign two months later in the wake of the protests and unrest that followed.

    Before leaving, he formed and handed power over to an interim government with businessman Ernest Sonekan as president and Sani Abacha as Chief of Defence Staff and Minister of Defence. On November 18, 1993, three months into his administration, Abacha overthrew Sonekan in a palace coup and became the head of state.

    It was the Abacha regime that arrested and detained MKO. The regime was also behind the assination of Jamiu’s mother. Abacha died suddenly and mysteriously in office in 1998 and was succeeded by General Abdulsalami Abubakar.

    Making reference to General Babangida’s book and his admission that Abiola won the 1993 election, Jamiu said, “He (IBB) mentioned that the election was annulled by General Abacha but all of that is tales by moonlight.

    “If that was the case, nothing stopped him from bringing up that when General Abacha died to General Abdulsalami who is also from Niger State and a good friend of his, to say: ‘I was forced to annul this election because General Abacha wanted to kill MKO Abiola. Now, MKO Abiola is in jail. Why don’t you release him to get a medical checkup as opposed to him eventually dying in jail?’

    “Even if he didn’t tell Abdulsalami to de-annul the election, at least let him go to have a medical checkup and Abacha was dead.

    “If Abacha was the problem, they could have come up with the result.

    “This result that was announced in his book could have been announced when General Abdulsalami came into power and they could have allowed him to get a medical checkup. Maybe he would have survived,” Jamiu said.

    IBB June 12 MKO
    Share. Facebook Twitter WhatsApp LinkedIn Telegram Email

    Related Posts

    Dangote Reduces Ex-Depot Petrol Price To ₦820 Per Litre

    July 8, 2025

    Zamfara Governor Clears ₦13.6bn Gratuity Debt Owed Retirees Since 2011

    July 8, 2025

    Abuja Teachers Suspend Strike After Wike’s N16bn Intervention

    July 8, 2025

    JUST IN: ‘Stay For Only Three Months’, US Implements Stricter Non-Immigrant Visa Rules For Nigerians

    July 8, 2025
    Add A Comment
    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    Latest Posts

    Dangote Reduces Ex-Depot Petrol Price To ₦820 Per Litre

    July 8, 2025

    Zamfara Governor Clears ₦13.6bn Gratuity Debt Owed Retirees Since 2011

    July 8, 2025

    Abuja Teachers Suspend Strike After Wike’s N16bn Intervention

    July 8, 2025

    Ahmed Musa Denies Distributing SUVs To Kano Pillars Players

    July 8, 2025

    Joao Pedro Shines As Chelsea Beat Fluminense To Reach Club World Cup Final

    July 8, 2025
    Advertisement
    WIDGET ADS
    News Point NG
    © 2025 NEWS POINT NIGERIA Developed by ENGRMKS & CO.
    • Home
    • About us
    • Disclaimer
    • Our Advert Rates
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    Join Us On WhatsApp